I know what you're thinking. I was skeptical too. But you wouldn't know the difference, I swear! It took over a year of living plant-based to even try this idea. It just looked impossible. But as often happens when I have ruled something out, one of my daughters presented an opposing opinion. The firstborn said this was so good she couldn't even believe it. So I gave it a try, and it's AMAZING.
Ingredients
1 can chick peas, also known as garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed.
1/4 cup vegan mayonnaise such as Helman's
1-2 teaspoons of yellow mustard
1/2 a medium tomato, chopped into 1/2" or bits, solid parts only
1-2 tablespoons of finely diced red onion
1 small stalk of celery, finely diced
3 pinches of ground dill weed
A shake of onion powder
A shake of pepper
A handful of mixed salad greens
Two slices of whole wheat bread
First, drain and rinse the beans.
Next, you need to mash them. I do this in single layers on a dinner plate with a potato masher. This leaves the texture coarse, so it's much better.
Scrape the mashed beans into a small bowl. Add all the onion, celery, mayo, and mustard. Stir until well mixed. Add the seasonings just a little bit at a time and taste after each. Especially the dill. You want to just taste it, not let it take over the dish. Save the sale for last and you might find you don't even need it, especially if your beans were not low-sodium.
TASTE. Can you taste the onion enough? Add some onion powder and stir and taste again.
Can you tase the celery? If not, add some celery seed, or celery salt if salt is also needed. Stir and taste again. Add a little more mustard if you're not getting enough that flavor. Resist adding any more of the mayo as that's the only less than healthy part of this meal.
Add the tomato pieces last and stir just enough to mix them in.
Toast the bread.
Rinse the spring greens and pat dry.
Lay the greens on the bread. Top with the Chick Pea Salad and a second slice, and voila!
Options
To make this recipe even easier, you can mash the beans in a blender (but then you have the blender to clean) If you don't feel like chopping up onion and celery, just use onion powder and ground celery seed. Another way to speed up the veggie chopping is to wash them, then just grate on a cheese grater until you have enough.
Save the leftovers! This is great for spreading on *Ritz crackers, or scooping with *Fritos or *Doritos!
*Original Ritz, Original Fritos, Fritos Scoops, and Doritos Sweet Spicy Chili are all animal-product free.